PAKISTAN seems to be going through one of its most powerful and devastating monsoons in its history.
According to the Meteorological OFFICE and the National Disaster Management Authority, (NDMA) the current monsoon and the down pour that follows it, will continue well into the middle of September. This year because of climate change, the Monsoon began in at the end of June. According to some reports, till date more than 700 people have lost their lives and many more are missing. Extensive damage to infrastructure and private property has taken place. The real magnitude of damage will become evident after the floodwater recedes.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has been hit the hardest by the floods. Only in the district of Buner over two hundred lives were lost and many hundreds went missing. An entire village in Buner has been wiped out, the ground that contained houses is now strewn with huge boulders and rocks brought down from the surrounding mountain by the deluge caused by the rain water. The Monsoon also reached the port city of Karachi, with full intensity. The city has been experiencing heavy spells of rain, which is projected to continue for some time. Although Karachi is no stranger to urban flooding, the rain fall experienced on August 14, was quite unprecedented in recent history of Karachi. In a few hours, 145 millimeter of rain had fallen.
A few factors make Karachi particularly vulnerable to urban flooding. Karachi is the country’s biggest and most populous city. It is also one of the most haphazardly planed cities. Heavy rain fall thus always presents a challenge for its residents. Many storm water drains leading to the sea or the nullahs that empty into the sea, have been chocked by thousands of illegal constructions done on or beside these nullahs/drains. It is thus no wonder that heavy down pour causes urban flooding, especially in the low-lying areas.
The drainage system and gutters in Karachi are mostly chocked because people usually throw litter and plastic bags on the streets. These plastic bags get stuck in the roadside gutters and choke them. This is usually the cycle Karachi suffers, every time there is a heavy down pour. To be absolutely fair, even the best planned cities in the world are prone to flooding, especially when double the average rainfall takes place in only a few hours. An effective water drainage system is a key of getting rid of rain water quickly after the rain stops. Islamabad is a good example in this context, where rain water is fairly quickly drained off the road in most parts of the area. In spite of difficulties faced by the residents of Karachi, senior journalist Khurram Hussain gives credit to Karachi municipal authority for performing better in similar circumstances than before.
Besides Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the other worst – affected areas in the country is Gilgit Baltistan and to a lesser extent Jammu and Kashmir. The devastation is these areas, however, indicate certain patterns. No doubt a lot of damage has been caused by national calamities like climate change brought on by global warming. But all the devastation cannot be attributed to climate change along, mismanagement and carelessness by man is equally if not more responsible. Pakistani cities and towns are notorious for their lack of proper planning and haphazard growth when it comes to constructing buildings of all types. This is the reason that has caused a lot of property damage in places like Swat, where hotels and residential homes have been constructed in a manner, where they are encroaching upon the national paths of streams and rivers.
Considering the case of Buner again, which was, perhaps, the worst hit district in the entire country, is a region not very well known for flash floods. According to reports the rate of deforestation in Buner was alarmingly high in the last few years. The phenomenon of deforestation was responsible for the floods, which transported huge boulders down the mountain and destroyed entire villages. It has to be noted that the PTI has been in government in KP for the last 11 – 12 years.
The deforestation is caused by the Timber Mafia with the connivance of the local police, forest officials and the patronage of the elected representatives of the area. The lack of tree cover means that heavy rains erode the hillside and accompanying soil and rocks more easily than, if there were a reasonably good tree cover. As heavy rainfall seems to be the new normal in the immediate future, certain aspects of flooding are beyond human capacity to control like climate change. Some basic steps can, however, be taken by human beings to mitigate the worst effects of flooding.
It must be understood by the people in general, that these floods were not a one-time episode. Due to climate change such extreme weather will become the new norm. The people must at the very least avoid construction in the path of flood waters. Although it is not possible for human beings to change the route of the flood waters, they can at least plan their buildings in such a manner that they stay out of the drainage paths of the storm waters.
The government on the provincial and local levels should establish an early warning system. Mosques can be very effective for such warnings. The meteorological office should try to give early warning systems to the people to avoid routes of flood water. Citizens including foreign tourists need to follow travel advisories and weather reports more seriously. Many deaths can be avoided, if people stay home during stormy conditions and come out only once the weather clears out. As I am about to submit this article, new reports are coming in of devastations in the entire country due to flood waters caused by heavy rainfall. Goods worth billions of rupees have been destroyed in markets especially in Swat KP.
—The writer, based in Islamabad, is a former Health Minister of KP.
